On this 4th as we watch the parades, have our cookouts and watch the fireworks some of our family and friends will be watching a very different sky tonight and we should take a few minutes to honor those who cannot be with us on this day.

God bless all our military men and women and their families….Their sacrifices have allowed every one of us to enjoy the freedom to celebrate this 4th of July holiday and everyday!!! We must never forget who gets the credit for the freedoms that we have,  of which we should be eternally grateful. Please keep them all in your prayers and I personally wanted to remember them with this old poem and one of my favorite old songs, perfectly befitting this day….

FREEDOM ISN’T FREE

I watched a flag pass by one day
It fluttered in the breeze
A young Marine saluted it
And then he stood at ease

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He’d stand out in any crowd
I thought how many men like him
had fallen through the years

How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers tears?
How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldier’s graves?

No, Freedom isn’t free

I heard the sound of taps one night
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill

I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant “Amen”
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend

I thought of all the children
Of the mothers and the wives
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington
NO, FREEDOM ISN’T FREE!

God Bless Our Troops – Proud To Be The Daughter, Granddaughter, and Niece of an ex-Marine.

TAPS

Fading light dims the sight
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright
From afar drawing nigh,
Falls the night.

Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest;
God is nigh.

Then goodnight, peaceful night;
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright.
God is near, do not fear,
Friend, goodnight.

Maintaining self-respect in the face of a devastating experience is of prime importance. ~ Ann Landers